326 OUT OF DOORS. 



with more ingenuity than discretion, utilised the end of 

 an old rope that was hanging in the water, and wove the 

 ravelled fibres into its nest, not knowing that ropes 

 which are hanging in the water are likely to be pulled 

 up again. 



Nor must we forget the smooth blenny, which can 

 crawl up rocks and remain out of water for a considerable 

 time, and can be so easily tamed that it can be fed 

 while lying in the hand. Nor its near relative, the 

 viviparous blenny, which, as its name imports, does not 

 lay eggs after the manner of fish generally, but saves 

 time by producing living young. Some little time ago 

 there was a great fuss made about some exotic fish that 

 had been shown to be viviparous, while all the while 

 we had on our own shores a perfectly familiar vivi- 

 parous fish, which no one seemed to think at all won- 

 derful. Distance, as usual, had lent enchantment to 

 the view. 



Perforce we must part with the fish and inspect the 

 molluscs. 



At the head of them all come the cuttles, about 

 which so much sensational writing has been inflicted 

 on the public. There are several cuttles in the 

 aquarium, the largest of which is the octopus, which 

 the newspapers will call the devil fish, whereas it is, as 

 a general rule, a very harmless creature, the real devil 

 fish being a gigantic skate, one of which has been 

 known to measure twenty-eight feet in width and 

 twenty in length, and to weigh a ton. The octopus is 



